I probably should have picked a less complicated pin for my first swap, but picked up a really nice Medusa and CPR playfield. I have completed the swap and plugged everything back up miraculously nothing smoked. I installed LED bulbs and am using the siegecraft adapters. BG lamps all work properly, some lamps on the pf are out and the controlled lamps on the pf flicker but not the controlled lamps on the BG do not.

Several things are not working properly. Most notable is the expanded SDB which constantly fires in attract mode. With a game start the rear drop targets will not reset. The top right round target sets of the bottom right sling and bottom right thumper. Sometimes a top drop target will reset the right drop targets. The four right targets seem to be working correctly.

I am in way over my head with this one, but learning as I go.

Yes. I connected the siegecraft board to the controlled lamp braid on the BG lamp panel. I am only showing 2.56vdc on the braid. Shouldn’t it be 5vdc? Could that be the problem?

2.8vdc on the rectifier. .85 controlld lamps on pf. 2.6 in the siegecraft boards

25 ohm resistor appears okay but only 2.56vac at f1 fuse.

Replaced the rectifier. It was indeed bad. Now getting 7.46vdc at BG controller lamps. 7.46vdc at tp1 on rectifier.

So lamps no longer flicker and they are bright in attract mode. BG controlled lamps all work great. Many of the controlled lamps on the pf do not go off when a game starts - particularly the scoring lamps at the bottom middle of the pf. They all stay lit.

One challenge which was stupid on my part is that I never got the game fully working prior to doing the swap so I don't know which problems are swap related and which existed prior. I have had the pin for well over a year - got it back when you were helping me with the Paragon. Picked up the CRP cheap and decided to do the swap. All boards are original - MPU board boots fine, goes into attract mode but lots of issues now when a game is started. Lamps as I mention above, non-firing solenoids, switch issues, etc. What is your advice on how best to systematically begin working through the problems?

Yes, I can post some up after work this evening.

Quickly this morning I removed the F5 fuse since it is for GI and the scoring controlled lamps still came on. I measured voltage at the controlled lamps and it shows 6.6VAC - GI voltage - and a lower VDC voltage. With the F5 fuse pulled I am uncertain why I would show VAC voltage on the controlled lamps. The BG GI lamps went off with F5 fuse pulled.

Here are pics with a game started. Most of the controlled lamps remain lit.

CBC94D7D-5A38-4C3B-BA1D-6ABE349B9728 (resized).jpeg

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35278E16-463C-4E84-94D2-9BCF05C2C03C (resized).jpeg

The same problem with or without the siegcraft boards. Only difference is the lamps flicker without the boards. I disconnected all lamp driver board connections and all controlled lamps were out so I guess I don't have a dead short to the lamps? I do have a logic probe.

U1 pin 1 = no pulse
U1 pin 2 =pulsing
U1 pin 3 =pulsing
U1 pin 21 =pulsing
U1 Pin 22 =pulsing

U1 Pin 23 =pulsing
U2 Pin 23 =pulsing
U3 Pin 23 =pulsing
U4 Pin 23 =pulsing

One other issue, top left GI lights next to the ball hole kicker are out and get very hot. Can smell the heat and too hot to touch. I may have something miss-wired there.

F3 fuse has blown twice this morning when starting a game so MPU is not booting. I think the fuse issue is related to the burn smell coming from GI lamps in the top left corner? I must have a short somewhere. I will try to get to that tonight and report back.

Left side of R78 and J1 pin 11 both pulsing.

Blown fuse issue was logic probe 5 volt connector off sdb. Fixed.

I reterminated the wire at both locations. I am showing a pulse at the connector for J4 13 so it is getting the signal from the mpu. I have not pulled the board yet to look at the trace between connector and U1 leg 1.

A quick edit to this post. I pulled a known working Alltek lamp driver board and installed it. The same problem persists with multiple controlled lamps staying lit when a game starts.

With the auxiliary lamp board disconnected the shooter lane lights - five rollovers and "ready", "aim", "fire" lamps are not lit. All other lamps appear to be the same.

Connecting a wire to ground at TP2 on the lamp driver board and touching pin 1 of U1, U2, U3, U4 does not affect the behavior of the lamps.

UPDATE

I have been rechecking the playfield wiring looking for shorts, etc. I found a solid blue wire not connected to a controlled lamp at the top of the playfield. Reconnected and now most lights seem to be working as they should except for a few that are out. Other strange things - neither side or top drop targets are resetting. The new leaf switches I installed on the slings don't work. On two of the slings I have an old switch - when it is activated the coil fires. Activating the new switch on the same sling and the coil does not fire - maybe something wired backwards?

Quench,

I found a blue wire that was disconnected from the one of the controlled lights at the top of the playfield. I reconnected and that seems to have fixed the issue. Now the controlled lamps that were lit at game start do not light.

Now maybe I can trouble shoot some of the other problems. For example, I installed new leaf switches on some of the slings. Where both switches are new, the slings do not work. Where I have one old switch and new switch, the coil is activated by the old switch but not the new one. I wonder if I bought the wrong type of switch or have it wired incorrectly.

The top right sling when activated by the old leaf switch also fires the bottom right pop bumper.

The return out lane switches activate the extended solenoid driver.

Here is a picture of the wire. It is the top right light just below the bank targets that lights the arrow.

The switches I had wired incorrectly - I went back and looked at my photos and caught the mistake. Slings now work properly

Top right sling still activates the bottom right pop bumper. It does not seem to be affected by the position of the drop targets.

Other issues - the out land rollovers, the star rollovers in the shooter lane and the spinners with the - all make the top right zipper flipper coil buzz (I originally thought the rollovers were activating the solenoid board on the PF, but it is the zipper flipper coil that is buzzing) . The star rollovers on the main playfield do not register.

Progress, slowly but surely. I could have picked a less complicated pin for my first PF swap.

medusa (resized).jpg

I haven't run test mode on the switches and solenoids.

Only one blue wire was not connected. It makes me wonder if something else is also going on. I will post up a picture of the PF at game start so you can see the lamps.

Here is a picture of the pf with a game started. I have no idea why the blue wire affected the controlled lamps. I think it is the S.W illumination buss coming off the rectifier.

I ran the diagnostics and all coils fire appropriately except for 16 and 17 which just buzz. The switch test shows switch 30 as closed.

Other strange things:
1) Drop targets not resetting - odd because over the weekend they were okay - right targets reset at game start and top targets all dropped except for the center target.
2) Right and left round targets at top of pf cause the pf lights to go off and on
3) Leaf switch behind red drop targets causes the saucer eject to fire - this wasn't a problem a few days ago
4) top right sling still causes bottom right pop bumper to fire

pf (resized).jpg

I am back working on the Medusa this weekend.

I pulled the of to checke out to adjust the back drop target switches - switch 30 was showing stuck. I found it almost impossible to adjust the switches without removing the pf.

Put the pf back, reconnected everything and now the MPU will not boot - quick flash followed by three flashes. If I disconnect J2 on the MPU board it boots fine.

I also swapped u10 and u11. There was no change. Game boots with J2 disconnected but not when connected.

Will not boot either way - top half connected bottom not, bottom connected top half not.

Found it. Man this thing is a bear.

I have gone through each switch in diagnostic mode. The cabinet flipper switches do not register and switch 37 for lower pop bumper does not register. All other switches are in correct sequence and register.

When a game is started the following switches are acting crazy.
- switch 35 activates switch 39
-switch 18 activates switch 19
- switch 34 activates switch 36

- Switches 25 and 28 will register during diagnostic but will not register during game.
- Switch 31 will register in diagnostic but not register during a game.

Making a little progress.

I resolved the switch matrix issue with the bottom right sling firing the bottom right pop bumper.

I am still troubleshooting the right drop targets rebound switch and its accompanying other two rebound switches on the the same strobe which fire the saucer and sometimes the shield of the gods. They are all on strobe 2. I think I have the wiring reversed on one of the leaf switches on the PF but have gotten myself turnaround. Here are pictures of the three switches in question. Solder work is a little messy but clean and not grounded anywhere.

The first picture is the leaf switch behind the four drop targets.
IMG_3498 (resized).JPG
The second picture is the leaf switch just above the four drop targets.
IMG_3499 (resized).JPG
The third picture is the leaf switch at the toward the top of of PF.
IMG_3500 (resized).JPG

With drop targets rasied switch 18 rebound scores but does not activate any other switches. All targets raised and all balls removed shows switch 39 closed - lower right pop bumper. It is not closed on visual inspection.

Manipulating the drop targets individually will also result activate the knocker. The four drops also do not reset.

Is this the resistor?image (resized).jpeg

That solves the switch 39 problem.

To right sling will nt fire but activates bottom left sling when the four targets are down. Just noticed this problem.

I also tested some of the affected coils by touching a ground wire to the non banded side of the coil. When the four targets are down, the four target coil activates the top left flipper. If the four targets are up, ground wire to the four target coil activates the coil.

I feel like I have something miswired that is causing all the problems. Not sure where to begin to sort that out.

Could a ground issue be causing all the problems?

If I start a game, I can activate some of the non-solenoid connected switches by touching my hand to the banded side of the diode while my other hand is also touching a metal part of the cabinet

Roger on the solder joints. I will recheck throughout the PF.

Here are the switch issues found running through the switches sequentially in diagnostic mode. The problems are with the rear round targets.

- Switch 17 is completely missing - someone removed the switch in the cabinet
- Switch 43 registers as 27
- Switch 45 registers as 30
- Switch 47 registers as 29

Here are the solenoid issues

- solenoid 1 appears to activate solenoid 17. The knocker does not activate.

Got up early this morning and double checked the diode orientation and wiring of the top of PF round targets. All are wired correctly and diodes are installed correctly. The targets are new so the diodes are okay.

That leaves either the MPU or the connection to the MPU? I swapped U10 and U11 on the MPU board with no change.? I have not yet checked continuity from the connection to the targets. Is there anything else I should be looking for?

I have not had a chance to look at the solenoid issue of solenoid 1 activating solenoid 17.

Take a look at theses photos. The first is a leaf switch which I wired. The second is the wiring of the three standup targets on the left side which I never disconnected. Shouldn't they both be wired the same way? I think I am going stir crazy looking at this. image (resized).jpegimage (resized).jpeg

Here is another pic that is not my wiring - never disconnected that appears to have a diode installed the wrong way.
I think I need a leaf switch wiring tutorial - ugh.

image (resized).jpeg

Here are pics of the round and drop target switches. I have also included a switch of the target I purchased from Marco. Someone added additional paperboard insulation at some point between the upper and bottom switches. When the round targets are attached it seems to do the trick insulating the drop target switches from the round target switches. IMG_3503 (resized).JPGIMG_3504 (resized).JPGIMG_3505 (resized).JPGIMG_3506 (resized).JPG detail (resized).jpg

These should be higher resolution. I was unaware about the transparent drops. The ones on the old pf were banged up and not transparent but someone could have swapped them. If I can get this pin going I will change them out for sure.

IMG_3506 (resized).JPGIMG_3504 (resized).JPGIMG_3503 (resized).JPGIMG_3505 (resized).JPG

1) it now shows switch 43 stuck. Prior to removing the pf to double check wiring of drops and round targets showed "0". The thing has gremlins. All other questions just show 43 stuck.

ugh!

If I am reading the schematic correctly 43 is the right round target. The diode should be good since it is a new target that came with a diode but I will double check when I get home this evening.

All the diodes are okay. Switch 43 is the top right round target and still registers closed although it is not.

Anither oddity is that I can cause some of the switches to activate by touching the banded side of the diode and while my other hand is on any piece of the metal attached to the cabinet.

This thing is killing me.

Okay, I am idiot. Thank you for being patience with me.

Switch test now shows "0". I went back through the sequential switch test one more time. I am showing no bad switches or misregistering switches. I am not sure why the switch test reported the previous anomaly about misregistering switches but am attributing it to user error - my mistake.

To recap where I think I am with this pin.

1) When the bottom “D” “C” two drops on the right side are down - it cannot be just one down - the leaf switch 18 activate the shield of the gods and the saucer eject. The top two targets down does not cause the problem. All four down the problem persists.

2) first three right drop targets down D,C,B causes switch 34 to activate bottom right sling switch 35. All four drops down switch 34 activates left sling switch 36.

3) Four right drops do not reset when all down

4) top drops do not reset when all down

5) the four gates do not register in game.

There may be other issues as well but these are the most obvious.

A big thank you for all of your help and patience. I bit off more than I can chew with this one but with your help I think I can get it going. It is going to look fantastic.

A quick update on the post above.

I went back and checked the diodes on all switches for the four left drop targets. The diode on drop target C showed bad. I replaced it with a new diode and it too shows bad. A short somewhere with that switch? The switch is new so I don't think it is the problem.

1) Yes, it went through every switch highest from lowest. This time I left the drops down as I went through the test. All switches register correctly.

2) Measuring the diode with the 4 drop targets up. The zipper flipper switch does not affect the problem. Problem persists with all the rear drop targets raised.

3) I coin door switches register correctly and are not stuck.
IMG_3511 (1) (resized).JPGIMG_3510 (resized).JPGIMG_3509 (resized).JPGIMG_3508 (resized).JPG

Finally!!!! It was the darn switch. It had a separator out of place. The following switch issues resolved

1)When the bottom “D” “C” two drops on the right side are down - it cannot be just one down - the leaf switch 18 activate the shield of the gods and the
saucer eject. The top two targets down does not cause the problem. All four down the problem persists.

2) first three right drop targets down D,C,B causes switch 34 to activate bottom right sling switch 35. All four drops down switch 34 activates left sling switch
36.

The four drop targets and the top targets will still not reset. Touching a ground wire to Q1 on the SDB does not cause the target solenoid to fire. The same test does cause the zipper flipper coil to fire.

I am still having issues with the knocker activating the zipper flipper solenoid. When the game starts, three drop targets are up at the top - thought it was only supposed to be the center one.

Progress!

Yes, it looks like it came that way from the factory. They look new although I did not install them.

I will check post #55.

The drops do not drop in sequence during the solenoid test. Top targets 2, 4, 6 do not activate/drop.

Right four targets do not activate at all during solenoid test.

Yes, it flashes during lamp test diagnostics.

Clicks when the light flashes. Resoldered and still same problem. Four targets will not reset. Back targets if all down at start do not reset, four targets down at start also will not reset. If all back targets up at start drops all but 2,4,6.

I am not reading 43vdc for the grey/red connector at the expander board or at the coils on the pf. I do read 43vdc on the brown/orange connector on the expander board duing lamp test but not at the three coils - drop targets 2,4,6. Other coils connected with brown/orange read 43vdc.

It was missing the damn spring - amazing ! Now everything appears to reset at it should. Let me load up a game and post back if there are any additional issues.

Okay, registered a few credits and the four bank will not consistently reset. It has 43vdc at the coil. I touched a ground wire on Q1 and it did not fire. Replaced Q1 with a new transistor and still not working. The diode for Q1 tests okay. The U1 chip?

Two controlled lamps are out which is odd - all other lamps work. I replaced the sockets with no change. It is the shoot again lamp and the "200" under the eject saucer. The manual shows them wired green/orange to the shoot again and white/yellow to the"200". I also have a new alltek lamp board in - I had a spare and left it in while trouble shooting the swap.

Another update.

I got the four drop targets working - There was a disconnected wire in the chain of orange/black wires.

FIXED - Poor MPU connection. Bottom left pop bumper will not fire. works in test diagnostic and words when ground to the transistor or coil. will not activate when the switch is closed.

The two controlled lamps mentioned above are still not working.

Progress!!!

Quench,

Nothing to this point other than changing the sockets. Headed out for travel with work and not back until Sunday - ugh. Will pick it back up next week.

Thank you for everything thus far!

I am back at it - testing why the controlled lamps for "shoot again" an "200k saucer" don't light.

Here is what else I have done. I think it must be a transistor issue. Strange since it is a brand new Alltek lamp board, but I may have blown something troubleshooting other issues along the way.

1) lamp test mode - lamps do not light
2) voltages check fine to the lamps in question
3) continuity from lamp driver board to the lamps in question checks out okay
4) logic probe no pulse at the lamps
5) logic probe no pulse on J3 pin 15 and J3 pin 22

I have replaced the transistors on an alltek before by soldering the transistor on top of the "micro-transistor" on the board with no problems. Doesn't look pretty but does the trick.

Grounded the corresponding SCR did not activate either lamp.

Manually testing the SCRs did not activate either lamp.

I also installed the old lamp driver board. Same two lamps are out on it as well. Otherwise it works as should.

Yes, i did try grounding the sockets - ground wire touched to the base of the socket. It did not activate the lamps.

I touched to the colored wire - no blown fuses

The lamps do not light when grounded.

The lamp sockets are brand new which is odd - they also did not work prior to changing the sockets. I will go back and double check everything. This thing is close but minor problems keep popping up.

One more lamp issue. I have a handful of lamps that are dimly lit. If I ground them the become bright. The affected lamps are in the shooter lane - all lamps except for the bottom one. It also is the only lamp in the shooter lane that flashes during attract mode - the lamps in the middle of the playfield for the gorgon bonus. The bottom lamp is bright and flashes during attract mode the other lamps are dimly lit. I believe these are all driven by the auxiliary board. I do have the LED adapters installed on the on the auxiliary board.

Okay. Is that the grey wire that connects to both adapter boards? I am using the alltek board and have it connected to the 5vdc supply on the cabinet/bg lights. The auxiliary adapter boards connect with a grey wire that is to be connected to "any unused connection" on the lamp driver board.

Replaced the sockets with new bayonet style sockets. No change on those two lamps. The lamp is getting voltage but will not come on when grounded. Also no pulse from the colored wire

I revisited the adapter board. I think I have it installed wrong and will fix tomorrow.

On the 200k lamp I get a solid 6.93 to 7.09 vdc on both the base a colored wired. On the shoot again lamp solid DVC on the base but the colored wire jumps
around between 2.40 and 7.0.

I replaced the rear stand targets with transparent. It was not a full switch just the target and now having drop reset issues on top and right drop targets. When reinstalling the rear drops the orange came loose from the right solenoid. Soldered it on the wrong lug and blew the PF fuse and shorted Q5. Replaced Q5 and the PF fuse quit blowing and rear drops will set properly t game start - drops all targets but center target - but targets will not reset. Right 4 drop targets also not resetting.

Pulled the top drop bank out of the machine and with it out the right four will still not reset. Ground Q1 and the coil for the 4 right drops just buzzes. In diagnostic test the four drop bank will reset.

Another odd thing that is now happening. In diagnostic mode when cycling through the display test on some of the display numbers, for example, 6,666,666 the controlled lamps also flash. In solenoid diagnostic, some of the activated solenoids will flash the controlled lamps.

This thing is killing me. Thought I was close. Should have left well enough alone with the transparent targets.

Back in business. I resolved the reset issue and other seemingly related problems. I think the only things not working properly are the two controlled lamps.

On the 200k lamp I get a solid 6.93 to 7.09 vdc on both the base a colored wired. On the shoot again lamp solid DVC on the base but the colored wire jumps
around between 2.40 and 7.0.

Yes, the 200k lamp works with ground to colored wire.

With J3 disconnected, I am getting 5.3 on the colored wire and 7.34 on the base on the shoot again lamp. it will not light with ground to the colored wire.

Yes. In diagnostics it is activating the solenoid board on the pf and the lights flash - not all numbers and not all coils do it. Also the diagnostic switch test activates the sound. Crazy, this all started happening out of know where.

One more issue - I pulled the PF to get the wood rails back on. Can I say pain in the you know what - why they used braids to attach the wood rails is beyond me. Reinstalled PF and now the right sling activates the left sling, and the bottom right and left pops activate the left sling.

Re-soldered the braid wire on the base and no change. It has a good connection to the base.

I removed the colored wire on the shoot again lamp and tested vdc at the base and on the connector. The entire base registers 7.05 vdc but the connector registers between 3.5 and 4.5 . I guess I will install another socket. Strange it will be the third new socket installed.

I am interested in learning what is causing the strange diagnostic issues. It just started happening with no change other than installing transparent targets at the top of the PF. Here are the results.

In Display Test

- All 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 8s, and 9s - pf lights flash and solenoid expansion board activates
- All 3s, 4s 5s 6s, and7s - pf lights flash

In Solenoid Test

- Solenoids 16 - 22 pf solenoid expansion board activates and pf lights are dimly lit with activation

When diagnostic test is activated from attract mode the background music keeps playing throughout all diagnostic tests.

I will double check for shorts under the PF. This thing is a real beast but it is starting to look great!

I grounded the SCR and the 200k lamp will not light. I am showing continuity from the connector to the lamp.

I tried a different incandescent and still it will not light. It has a very, very dim glow.

I jiggled and re-seated the connectors at J1 on the MPU and J4 on the lamp board. Still having the same issue in diagnostic.

I meant to say the 'shoot again" light. The 200k will light when grounded but not otherwise. I grounded the "shoot again" lamp at the connection and it also did not light. So there is something between the board and the socket or at the socket.

I disconnected J2 and J3 on the mpu during diagnostics and the strange behavior did not change. I have not fully populated the pf so have not played a game. There does not seem to be any strange behavior starting a game and activating coils, etc. with my finger.

I have the day off tomorrow. In addition to a lot of "honey dos" I hope to work on the pin more.

I have to 200k and shoot again now both lighting when I ground the colored wire, ground the connection at the board and ground the related SCRs. I am getting a pulse from the related IC legs on the driver board. Suggests two bad SCRs?

So the SCRs did not activate the lamps. I replaced them and the lamps still do not activate - the alltek board has the nice design of having through holes below the lamps for replacement. To recap, both lamps now light when grounded - at the colored wire and at the connection.

Another strange thing. The alltek board installation says that when using LEDs you should connect a jumper wire from the alltek board to the 5vdc controlled lamp wire in the backbox. When I do this the pf solenoid expander clicks on an off and things lock up.

IMG_3548 (resized).JPG

IMG_3549 (resized).JPG

Wheb I connect it the solenoid expander activates on and off. The siegecraft on the aux lamp also connects to the braid wire. It appears to be okay.

Okay. Reconnected and now not a problem. Darn thing has gremlins.

Back to the lamps. I can ground the SCRs to the cabinet ground braid and lamps come. Grounded to tp3 on the board and no lights for the two lamps in question.

Yes. Misspoke. Per post 89 tp3 to right leg of small scr and left leg of left scr. Neither light. These are new SCRs soldered to the through holes of the alltek board.

UPDATE - 200k is now working an flashing in attract mode. Put in another new SCR and it is now working

Shoot again is still problematic. I have dropped in two new SCRs. Lamp will light when grounded. Will not light when left leg is connected to TP3. Is shoot again supposed to flash in attract mode?

A pf question. There are four(+) plastic posts that are taller than the rest. Where do they go? I took a lot of pictures when disassembling the pf but cannot tell from the pics and did not notice when I removed them

Really screwed something up. Was reassembling the playfield and got it all back to together and booted it up. The displays were acting crazy as were the playfield lamps. Displays were flashing - almost like they were scrolling - and the pf lamps were staying on or flickering. Shut the machine down and lifted the pf to find that a wire in the cabinet - not attached to anything - looked like it had shorted across the knocker. I am guessing that is what caused the problem but not for sure.

I thought I might have fried either U10 or U11. I replaced them with spares from another board. No luck. My next thought is U20 since the lights on the pf stay lit?

Feel like a real junk finger with this damn project.

Too funny. I feel like I am with this pin. Rebuilt a Xenon over Christmas no problem. This thing is another story.

J1 is good. The wire was a loose wire in the cabinet not connected to the board. One I had stripped and but not used. I suspect it shorted to somewhere else.

Displays just look like they scroll and pf lamps flash very quickly and stay on during attract mode. All voltages on sdb are okay. Pf fuse blew. Replaced it and things goes crazy. Pops fire, solenoid expander clicks fast. It eventually stops but sometimes not before blowing the pf fuse. Checked switches just to make sure all were gapped okay - they are. Did that when I reassembled the pf.

Installed my alltek board from the Paragon and have same problems with displays and solenoids firing, etc.

I installed my paragon SBD and displays have similar problems - think it is the connector at j1. Needs to be repinned. Solenoids, expander board, etc. did not fire. Looked at the SBD from the Medusa and noticed for the first time someone had miswired the ground mod. They had it connected to the wrong trace. Good grief. Pf fuse keeps blowing now. I am wondering if my whole SBD board is shot.

Putting this on hold until I get a driver board. Will post hopefully next weekend. In the meantime going back over everything underneath PF.

Quench, thanks!

I have an sbd on the way. It should arrive toward the end of the week. Once installed i will post back.

So I am back with it. A new sdb and arrived and the problems persist. I repinned the connector on J3 of the Sdb as well.

I have the displays looking like they scroll - I know that is not what they are doing but it appears that way. No solenoids work except flippers. In game sound is not there but okay during diagnostics.

All started when I think I shorted a spare wire across the cabinet knocker.

I installed an alltek mpu along with the new sbd and problem persists - displays scroll. Only one thing left is the alltek lamp board.

Installed my alltek mpu back in my meteor and now it the meteor is screwed up. Displays not working properly. Lots of missing digits.

Put original mpu back in the pin and now no displays light. Voltages at the displays measure correct.

Solenoid and pf fuse blowing is solved.

Displays still flicker.

Disconnect J3 on the MPU and displays go blank. Plugged j3 back in and displays still blank. Connector issue? At this point this morning cannot get them to come back on. Inspection of j3 connctor looks fine. At some point in the not too distant past someone repinned it with good robust terminals. Checked the board connection at j3 and reflowed solder joints as well. Blanking signal from J1 pin 10 is pulsing as well.

Increased voltage on SBD via trim pot and now have flickering displays. Unplugged j3 on the MPU no change in display flicker.

Unplugged j4 on lamp board and j1 auxiliary no change.

Unplugged all displays and plugged in one at a time - all were blank.

Plug all displays back in back to all displays flickering.

Turned pin off and back on and now all displays blank. Voltages at all displays check out at 190vdc

Solenoid expander board also not working. Light flashes twice at pin start then goes out. Grounding connector 25 at J3 on the lamp board lights the bulb. Only showing 29vdc on the expander board at pin 9 instead of 43.

Voltage on the displays is 190.

The displays are completely blank - amber glow in the bottom of each display. Blanking signal at displays and at J1 pin 10 off the mpu is pulsing.

Turned the damn thing on to check your questions and all displays working perfectly. What the heck. Crazy. It has to be the connectors. I have ordered connectr to repin everything.

Solenoid driver board light is not working. Flashes once when it goes into attract mode. Flashes during lamp test but no 43vdc present expander board does not click or buzz. Pf fuse is okay.

I cannot get the displays to reproduce the flickering issue. I feel confident it is J1 on the mpu. I re-connected some of the wires and maybe that fixed it. I have ordered a new 28 pin connector.

Solenoid expander now working. It was the yellow connection at one of the pop bumpers.

Only thing not working at this point is the "shoot again" lamp. It still does not flash during the lamp diagnostic test. It will light be grounding the controlled lamp signal wire. I have replaced the transistor on the lamp driver board. It has a new socket - actually replaced it twice - and it has a constant 7.25vdc at the controlled lamp wire and socket base.

I also need to reinstall the 7 drop target and top of game lights. Those two get in the way when working underneath the pf so I removed them.

Very close - I hope.

Negative

I have a bad connection to the pf somewhere for this lamp.

Quench, you are the greatest!

Okay, so whoever repinned J3 on the lamp driver board broke the top part of the IDC connector. The pin was in the connector but the wire was sitting in the connector but not connected to the IDC pin. I pulled an IDC pin from an old connector and installed. We are now in business. Cannot believe this has been the issue all along.

I have a long day today with work but off tomorrow. I will post back but hopefully I will be able to post a picture of the first game!

I spoke too soon. I reinstalled the rear drops and they are now not resetting properly. Worked fine before pulling them out. The second, third, and fourth drops from the left when looking at the target stay up instead of dropping and leaving the center target up - ugh. Also blew PF fuse almost immediately when I started a game.

Starting with switch 48 and working backward during the switch test, targets 48 and 46 are not registering which is probably the cause of the rear drop reset issue. I have pulled the drop targets and cannot see anything that is problematic. Switches are gapped properly and all connections are solid with no bad diodes.

I was diverted to a really long “honey do” list yesterday.

The drops are now working. It was just too tight behind the drops for some to release. I realigned the whole mechanism and sanded the openings lightly - a lot of clear coat drip - and all appears to be good.

I will report back after a few more honey dos today. Sleeping beauty is currently asleep so some quiet time this morning to work on the pin.

Darn this thing!

I finally felt like it was time to move the pf back to the top brackets in the cabinet so I could play the first game. Now a few additional problems have developed.

The rear drops now set properly in game and when the pin is initially powered on, but do not all reset as they should in game

Game starts with center target up , it drops and the other correct targets raise, I drop those targets and no additional targets are set.

Right four drops do not reset in game, but do reset when pin is turned on.

The following switches are not registering - 48, 44, 36, 20, 12, 4.

So close and yet so far.

Robert

Switches are now all registering. Left four bank drop is working fine. Drops across the top all register but do not reset after second sequence - first sequence center target up, second sequence two targets up - after completing the second sequence additional drops do not raise.

I finally got the drops to work by adjusting switches.

I played one game - but then I started getting scoring issues. A single player game starts with both the first and the second player lit with a score of 0,000,005 on each display. As I play score randomly increase or decrease on both displays. Once the ball drains scores keep decreasing.

I will try to take a closer look in the morning and post back.

So the display problem is related to the coin door. With the door open everything works fine, and I can play a game. With the coin door shut the first and second player displays post 000,005 and you cannot reliably start a game. Sometimes I can get it to start but game play results in the very odd scoring mentioned above on both first and second player displays.

Thanks, Arcane. I checked the start button and it okay - insulated and not shorting to ground. I isolated the problem to the left side of the coin door but cannot see what is shorting. It is not the lock bar because the problem exits with it removed. If a raise the pf slightly the problem goes away. As a temp fix, I took a very thin sheet of plastic and laid it across the top of the left side of the coin door and coin slot mechanism.

On a positive note - with that issue temp fixed the pin works!!! Played my first couple of games and will post up a video today!

Lost the two lights underneath the left flipper. Went ahead and replaced the sockets but that did not solve the problem. I cannot tell from the schematic where they originate.

Lamp issue solved. Finally figured out that the lamp is controlled by the upper pf zipper flipper switch. A wire had come loose. Wierd design.

Quench,

Here it is thanks to your patience and help! This was a bear. thank you for sticking in there with me. Learned a ton!!!

You are the greatest. It looks great sitting next to the Paragon.

May have spoke too soon. After a few games switch 18 has decided to show closed even though the actual switch is gapped appropriately. Double checked wiring and it is okay.

In game. switch 18 does not register and activating either flipper causes 10 points to score with same sound as you would get when 18 is activated.

Darn thing was playing great for about 20 games.

It is definitely a switch matrix issue and not vibration. Holding the flippers up and pressing the flipper switch activates the 10 point score and sound.

I also have continuity from the mpu connector to both #18 switches.

Continuity to the third one as well.

Banging on the pf does cause 10 points to register on occasion. However holding flippers up so there is no vibration and closing flipper switch also causes 10 points to register. Switch 18 will not register at all in game. Shows closed in diagnostics. Darn this pin.

SOLVED. I am an idiot. It was the top right switch 18 that was causing the problem.

On another note, I removed most of the capacitors on the switches. Good I idea to replace them or just leave off?

One smaller problem is the zipper flipper mechanism. The plastic catch will not stayed hooked on the metal tab attached to the solenoid. A couple of zipper flipper strokes and it jiggles loose. I am guessing it is worn. I could not see a way to adjust the tension so that it is tighter.

The right lane to the top of the playfield registers only on occasion. I have gapped the switches several times but still have not resolved the issue.

This pin is killing me. The drops have decided not to reset at power on it in game. The solenoid expander board is not engaging and no power to the drop coils. I am thinking a connector issue - still waiting on connectors so I can repin the whole thing. Any other things to check? It was playing fine, started another game and no drops and the two top left pf lights and the left and right center lamps behind the green targets are dim.

I found the bad connection on the pf. Posting out of frustration more than anything. The darn pf is so crowded anytime I raise it to fix an issue or make an adjustment I seem to create another problem by bumping stuff around. The cabinet design for raising the pf is a challenge as well having to lift it to the second set of posts to get better pf access. I really like the Gottlieb design that exposes the whole pf.

The dim lights are strange. Power to the lights is low 3 volts instead of 6. Two top left and the two behind the green targets. Hard to get to.

I think these are general illumination lamps. An orange wire and a green wire daisy chainedto other lamps.

Only measuring 2.3v AC on all affected lamps.

2.3 volts AC on orange 0 volts on green. Ground short or poor connection somewhere along the daisy chained affected lamps?

Not all GI are out just those mentioned. Aren’t they all on the same chain from the rectifier board?

The lights affected have continuity between them. I lose continuity between known working GIs and the affected lamps. No continuity between j1 pin 1 and the affected lamps.

That was exactly the problem. One of the orange wires at the EOS for the zipper flippers was coming loose. I need to recheck all of my soldering on this thing. As you pointed out, that seems to be a recurrent problem.

Everything has been working great for the past couple of weeks except I am still having issues with the "shoot again" lamp.

The lamp will not light in lamp test diagnostics or in game. Here is what I have diagnosed thus far.

1] there is continuity from J3 pin 22 to the lamp
2] grounding the blue/yellow wire at the socket turns on the lamp
3]grounding at the connector J3 pin 22 turns on the lamp
4] grounding the transistor q40 turns on the lamp

Quench, you will forget more about pinball repair than I will ever know

jumping a test wire from tp3 on the lamp board to left leg of the SCR does not activate the lamp. It is a new SCR replaced yesterday. Here is pic. Solder on the underneath side is making good contact.

IMG_3880 (resized).JPG

That did it. Flipped the SCR around and now works fine. I had no idea it was on backwards

All is working well with the exception of the occasional rear drop that doesn't want to reset. Those drops are really finicky. I have to adjust the same one - third from left - frequently.